Doctor Found Guilty Of Sexually Assaulting Patients

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MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut doctor was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting five women who were his patients.

A Middletown Superior Court jury announced the verdict against 45-year-old Tory Westbrook of Glastonbury, two days after it began deliberations. He was convicted on eight counts of second- and fourth-degree sexual assault.

Westbrook’s bail was raised to $1.95 million, and he faces up to 44 years in prison at sentencing.

Westbrook is accused of inappropriately touching more than a dozen female patients during exams at the Community Health Center in Clinton. While the trial involved five of the patients, other criminal cases remain pending.

Westbrook’s defense attorney, Norm Pattis, said he planned to appeal. He said in comments reported by The Middletown Press that the number of victims claimed by prosecutors is suspect.

“The state wants to claim that as many as 53 people came forward,” Pattis said. “Those of you who heard the testimony, do you really think that Westbrook abused 53 people, or do you think that somebody saw there was an empty bus and everybody wanted to get on it and claim whiplash before it’s too late?”

Christopher Morano, an attorney representing several people in civil suits, told the newspaper that his clients wanted to see justice in a criminal court.

Westbrook was first arrested in June 2012, and police said the alleged crimes occurred between 2010 and January 2012. The allegations led the state Medical Examining Board to suspend Westbrook’s license to practice medicine last year.

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